Zengo Unchained – A review of their test kitchen

Atop the Gallery Place metro station, on the edge of Chinatown, is one of DC’s most exciting fusion restaurants. Zengo seamlessly blends Asian and Latin cuisines together yielding edgy and delicious results. They are always looking to push the envelope with flavors so they have introduced a “Test Kitchen” series. Every couple of months or so they choose one Asian and one Latin country as inspiration and create inventive small plates and cocktails that blend the ingredients, techniques and flavors of the cuisines while staying true to their spirits.

From April 1st to June 30th the Test Kitchen’s focus is Singapore and El Salvador. Though these locations are roughly 10,000 miles apart, Chef de Cuisine Graham Bartlett expertly brings them together in harmonious dishes. I ate their last week and plan to pop in for at least one more visit before they move on to their next experiment.

First up was the Crispy Chicken Wings, and they were true to their name. They were coated with sweet and spicy Singapore prawn glaze which contained fish sauce. It was a unique flavor and quite delicious. The chicken itself was perfectly juicy and I suspect they brine the wings before cooking them. A Salvadoran Curtido (cabbage slaw) accompanied the dish.

Crispy Chicken Wings

Next we tried the Yuca con Chicharron. Think big, thick slices of starchy yuca fries that were topped with a vinegary pickled cabbage. A pleasing aioli, that was seasoned with the Asian condiment togorashi, was drizzled on top.

Yuca con Chicharron

I was impressed with the Char Siu Chicken Breast. The skin had a nice crispy char to it and it rested on a bed of garlicky mashed yuca that had a satisfying measure of salt to it. One of the most interesting components of the dish were the “anise tomatoes”. The tomatoes seemed to have been first roasted, and then chilled and the flavor was bright and acidic.

Char Siu Chicken Breast

My favorite dish of the evening was the Chili King Crab Legs. It was a harmonious composition of sweet Alaskan King Crab meat that was glazed with a sweet chili sauce and accompanied by sweet caramelized plantains that melted in your mouth. I know it sounds like it would be overwhelming with sweetness, but it was balanced out by the acid from the watercress salad and the spiciness in the glaze.

King Crab Legs

The Test Kitchen doesn’t limit itself to food, the cocktails were quite good too. I really enjoyed the Horchata which is a blend of Patron XO, which is a coffee liqueur, and rice milk. A hint of cinnamon and vanilla are added as well. The drink overall struck me as an elevated embodiment of a White Russian.

Website — http://www.richardsandoval.com/zengodc/index.php

Facebook — http://www.facebook.com/ZengoDC

Twitter — http://twitter.com/zengodc

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